stranger siblings: (iii)

At the dinner table, Taeyeon tried her hardest not to stare at Tiffany. Which was hard, because something about her was just magnetic. It was like her stepsister had sprayed something on herself that just silently demanded people look at her.

Or maybe it was just Taeyeon, because her mother and stepfather didn’t seem to be having the same issue. Rather, they seemed surprisingly comfortable. Mrs. Kim asked Tiffany how her journey was, what her life was like back in California, what kinds of things she’d brought with her. Mr. Hwang asked his daughter about their relatives, her mother, how things were over there.

And here’s the thing, Taeyeon was waiting, anticipating almost, for Tiffany to hit out with some obscene remark, or use a curse word, or tell someone to off, or even nonchalantly pull a joint out her bra and light it up right there at the dinner table. But she didn’t. Instead, she answered their questions cheerfully, respectfully, and she listened to whatever they had to say dutifully and attentively.

Thus, Taeyeon was left rather confused. Where was the girl who supposedly enjoyed narcotics and alcohol and disappearing for days on end and had failed all her classes and got kicked out of her school? Because that didn’t seem to be the girl sitting in front her. She had readied herself for Tiffany to come barging into their home with an American flag and a boom box, skull tattoos on her neck, as she downed a couple of tequila shots.

Tiffany was supposed to be rude, crude and reckless. She was meant to have declined since she last saw her. She wasn’t meant to dress so nicely, talk so nicely, or actually seem really ing nice.

It put Taeyeon on edge. It was like she was just waiting for a switch to flip and out would emerge the monstrous disaster of a teenage girl that Taeyeon had pictured her to be. Not this unfairly pretty, well spoken, fashionable young woman sitting opposite her, laughing at one of her mother’s jokes. What the ?

“And Taeyeon will be able to show you around. Right, Tae?”

She blinked and found Tiffany looking back at her with those big dark eyes. , she’d been staring. She quickly tore her gaze away and directed it at her mother, “Huh?”

“I was saying that you could show Tiffany around school on Monday, since it’ll be her first day.” Mrs. Kim supplied, looking at her daughter curiously.

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” She offered a tightlipped smile, before putting dedicated concentration onto her dinner plate.

“You don’t have anything to worry about though, Tiffany.” Mrs. Kim pushed the conversation on swiftly, “The kids are really nice there and the teachers are great. Plus, Taeyeon will be able to help you with whatever you need.”

“Really, I can’t thank you all enough.” Tiffany put her chopsticks down to regard each one of them individually, as if they had all become irreplaceably precious to her. Taeyeon found herself dropping her gaze within less than a second. Tiffany’s eyes were too pretty to be looked at too long. “I know that my coming here has probably inconvenienced you all and-“

“Oh, don’t be silly, Tiffany.” Mrs. Kim shushed her. “It’s honestly no trouble at all.”

Mr. Hwang nodded in agreement. “This is your home now, too.” He reached out and patted his daughter’s hand in reassurance, and Taeyeon thought this was nice since Mr. Hwang usually didn’t tend to show such affection so openly.

“But, seriously,” Tiffany reiterated, “all this kindness is much appreciated – especially since I know that I’m not exactly deserving of it after all of the things I’ve done.”

“There’s always a chance to redeem yourself…or put things right.” Mr. Hwang replied sincerely.

And Taeyeon wasn’t sure if it was because she was already suspicious of Tiffany, or if it was because her e